Two Democrats from Allegheny County on Thursday conducted the first unannounced congressional visit of the controversial Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest immigrant detention facility in the Northeast.
U.S. Reps. Summer Lee of Swissvale and Chris Deluzio of Fox Chapel arrived with their teams around 10:30 a.m. at the Clearfield County facility, which has operated as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention site since 2021.
Local and national immigrants-rights advocates have consistently called for the closure of Moshannon amid allegations of inhumane conditions at the center, about 130 miles from Pittsburgh.
Zoe Bluffstone, a Deluzio spokeswoman who was on site, said the representatives were let in around 11 a.m.
Spanish-speaking translators on their staffs, however, were barred from entering, Bluffstone said.
Lee has tried to enter Moshannon previously and been turned away. Thursday was Deluzio’s first attempted visit.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, members of Congress previously had to submit requests at least seven days ahead of a visit to Moshannon under Trump administration policy.
But in early May, a federal appeals court ruled unanimously that the Trump administration must continue allowing lawmakers to conduct unannounced oversight visits to immigration detention facilities, the New York Times reported.
Deluzio and Lee are expected to speak publicly later Thursday about the visit, according to Bluffstone.